


Squeeze

by marvelmedigeekfics



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Fluff, IDK if this is even good, Loss of Parent(s), Minor Character Death, Nostalgia, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23962114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelmedigeekfics/pseuds/marvelmedigeekfics
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Maddie Buckley, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Kudos: 109





	Squeeze

“Hello?” Buck holds his phone to his face and listens intently to the other end.

“I understand.” He was laughing, and now all of his joy is in a puddle of the floor.

He sighs and plops down on the bench. He sighs again.

“What was that, Buck?” Hen asks, leaning against the lockers.

“I have to go to Pennsylvania.” He searches for a plane ticket without thinking about it.

“Why?” Chimney’s obviously has heard about what went on in Pennsylvania. He can’t contain his disgust, and it would be dramatic if it wasn’t so on the nose.

“My mom died today. In a fire.”

“Oh, Buck. I’m so sorry.” Buck leans into Hen’s touch.

“When’s the funeral?” Chimney asks quietly.

“Friday.” Chimney walks off without a word, pulling out his phone as he heads in the direction of Bobby’s office. Eddie takes a seat next to Buck, offering his sympathy without saying anything. 

What’s it going to be like, going back? Last he checked, his father was still mad about him going to LA, and his mom, well. She’s dead now. He couldn’t not go to the funeral. If for one reason only, for Maddie. She still had to tell her parents Doug was dead. And Buck, he had other things to tell them. 

Chimney returns to the three of them, who hadn’t moved. “Do you need to..?” he trails off, and looks down at his phone when it chimes and immediately back up. “Because if you do, I cleared it for you already.” Buck looks up at him and nods stiffly. 

“I should call Maddie.” Buck dials her number and is met with her sobbing profusely. 

“Yeah, Mads, I’ll be there.” He doesn’t bother to change out of his work clothes, and just grabs his bag, pulling the rest of them into a group hug. He hangs up and savors the embrace for a minute until he leaves. 

He leaves the rest of them looking at his retreating form, and Eddie’s the first one to say anything. “I have to tell Chris im going on a trip.” He walks toward Bobby’s office just like Chimney did not 10 minutes ago. 

\--

When Chimney, Maddie and buck land in Hershey, there is no one waiting for them. They just go to the hotel. It was decided from the time they booked their flights that they wouldn’t be staying anywhere near the Buckley house.

But they are going to dinner that night. The three of them were dressed impeccably. Maddie is anxiously crying over introducing Chimney to her father. Chimney is comforting her, and Buck is on a phone call with Eddie. Listening to Eddie had a way of calming Buck down.

“We gotta go Buck.” Maddie’s says, her makeup flawless again. He waves to Eddie and braces himself for the train wreck that is bound to happen.

“Hello, Evan, Madeline...” the Buckley patriarch begins.

“Howie. My boyfriend.” Maddie supplies, visibly twitching. Chimney sticks his hand out and Mr. Buckley shakes it solemnly.

“So what do you do, Mr...?”

“Han. And I’m a firefighter with Bu-Evan.” Chimney replies, sitting down at the table last.

Mr. Buckley makes a tsk noise and turns to the menu. No one says anything until after they order, Buck staying uncharacteristically silent and Maddie and Chimney drinking wine like water. They are going to need a lot to get through this. Mr. Buckley has a way of making everyone tense. He isn’t even doing anything, but old wounds don’t go away with time.

“Is there anything we need to do before tomorrow?” Buck whispers, swirling his wine around in the glass.

“There wouldn’t be a tomorrow if you hadn’t run off to Los Angeles.” Mr. Buckley doesn’t blink while he burns Buck with his gaze.

“I didn’t run, as much as you shoved me out.” Buck mutters, downing the rest of his glass.

“Shoved you out?!”

“Yes. Dad, you knew what you were doing when you gave me that ultimatum.” Buck struggles to keep his voice steady.

“Can we just enjoy a meal together?” Mr. Buckley says, taking the plate from the waiter and shooting Buck yet another death glare. Maddie and a Chimney both look at their plates like they’re the most interesting thing in world.

“So, Dad, how’s work?” Maddie tries to defuse the situation, squeezing both Buck and Chimney’s hands before she takes a tense bite of her food.

“Busy. I’ve been working nonstop double shifts to avoid having to plan another funeral. God rest their souls.”

“I wish I could’ve met her.” Chimney whispers, fondly remembering Kevin, and his own mother. Maddie squeezes his hand under the table again.

“And you would’ve, if someone would’ve stayed where he belongs.” The words wouldn’t have their meaning if there wasn’t a death glare involved.

“I’m out.” Buck gets up and throws a few bills down on the table. Maddie runs after him and Chimney follows, leaving his own bundle of cash on the table. Buck is already halfway to the car by the time Maddie and Chimney make it there.

“Buck! Hey!” 

Buck doesn’t turn around until he recognizes the voice. It’s Eddie. “What’s wrong?” he says. Buck flies into his arms. “Buck, talk to me.” 

“Hey, Eddie.” Maddie and Chimney say from near the trunk. Eddie waves, but his mind is actually on Buck. He looks up to see someone striding across the parking lot. All at once, he’s running toward him with a vengeance.

Maddie pulls off her shoes and sets them on the trunk and runs after them. Chimney runs after them, Eddie specifically, while Buck looks dumbfounded.

“Lay off, Diaz!” Chimney pulls a seething Eddie back and all but drags him back to the car. Maddie is more angry than Eddie, if that’s possible. It’s probably lucky the three guys can’t hear her.

“Why’d you do that, Eds?” Buck whispers when Eddie isn’t breathing fire. Eddie looks over at him and shrugs. He bumps his shoulder against Bucks lightly.

“I got your back.”

Maddie returns and holds her hand out for her shoes. “Well. Eddie, are you sober?”

“Um. Yes?”

“Great. You can drive!” She tosses him the keys and climbs in to the car. The other three look at her in disbelief for a second and decide not to question Maddie.

“So what did you say to him?” Buck says to her.

“I just said, if you want to hurt my baby brother, you’ll have to go through me, your beloved daughter. And he just sighed. So that’s a good sign, I think, at least it was when I was 16.”

“Thanks, Mads.” She nods in reply and motions for Eddie to take a left. Maddie and Chimney head up to the room, while Buck and Eddie stay behind.

“I thought you left street fighting behind months ago.” Buck says, looking at Eddie with a smirk playing on his lips.

“That was a parking lot, not the same.”

“Same difference.” Eddie snickers in reply and lets Buck rest his head on his shoulders.

“What did he say, Buck?”

“It was nothing.”

“Yeah, okay. Tell me about your mom then.”

Buck sighs and looks back at his memories of his mom. She was a lawyer, and she was the best. She didn’t get that far without hard work. Which didn’t leave much time for him or Maddie. She was better than his dad, when she wasn’t at work. She was nice, and sweet. But she wasn’t around much, so the nice things fell to the wayside when she took on more and more and more cases.

“She was a workaholic. But she was funny. Even when she’d be working, she never miss a chance to crack a joke. She could’ve been a comedian, but she always said she was too smart for that. So she went to law school with an 8 year old, and got pregnant with me. She missed her graduation having me, and then she never made time again. Never too busy to crack a joke, but too busy for her son.”

Buck sighs again and all the tension seeps out of him. “I’ll miss talking to her. Wasn’t often, but...”

Eddie turns to hug him close and let him work his grief out, even just a little bit of it. The sun goes down over them, but they don’t move.

“Hey, you should get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Come on.”

—

The next day, the Buckley siblings, Chimney and Eddie, walk out of the lobby dressed to the 7s. They don’t speak on the way to the funeral.

“You okay?” Chimney and Eddie say to Maddie and Buck respectively.

They both nod and squeeze hands. And they walk into the church, with Eddie and Chimney following quickly behind them. They take their seats, and wait. A chain of squeezes makes its way down the group, like they are in high school again. Nostalgia has its ways of making the worst times a little more bearable.

So the chain starts again when Buck and Maddie go to say goodbye. It’s a bit weird to talk to an urn, but neither of them seem to mind. They stand shoulder to shoulder and talk.

“I wish I had a joke for you, Mom.” Maddie begins.

“What was E.T. short for?” Buck supplies, wiping a stray tear out of his eye.

“Because he had little legs.” Maddie said, while crying softly. “That was her favorite.”

“We miss you mom. Be good.”

“We love you.”

They turn around to see their father looking at them, with a mix of pride, guilt and sadness. “I’m sorry. For giving you the ultimatum.”

“I forgave you a long time ago.”

“Then why didn’t you come home?”

“My home is in LA, Dad. With Maddie and Chimney. And Eddie, and his son Chris. With my friends. With the family I chose.”

“You chose them? Over me.”

“You chose work over me. Over us.” Buck gestures to him and Maddie.

“You’re right.” He sighs. And sighs again. And walks out to the car. He leaves the four of them and the funeral attendant in the church, not exactly reeling or stunned, but off kilter.

“Let’s go.” The four of them grab hands and walk out, heads down low.

—

“Why did you come all the way here?” Buck asks Eddie, back at the hotels parking lot underneath the setting sun once again.

“I didn’t want you to be alone.” Eddie replies.

“That’s..” Buck turns one corner of his lips up. “Really sweet. Thank you.”

“You did it for me. I’m only returning the favor.” Eddie half smiles back.

“Do you miss Shannon?” Buck says after a second.

“Everyday.”

Buck squeezes Eddie’s hand a little and they just barely move to smile at each other.

“I used to be angry at her, because she asked for a divorce. And then she died.” He scoffs. “And then I moved my anger to you. Worst time of my life, being angry at you.”

“Thank you for forgiving me.”

“I can’t stay mad at you.” 

The stars twinkle and both of them watch them, the only sound the rhythm of their breathing.

“Make a wish.” Buck points to a shooting star and shuts his eyes, whispering a wish.

“I already have everything I ever wanted.” Eddie squeezes Buck to him and pecks him on the cheek.

“Me too.”


End file.
